Luna Befriends Snape
by Frankie.fleur
Summary: Luna and Snape are so different, yet a friendship still develops between the pair


Luna Lovegood Befriends Severus Snape

'Daydreaming again are we?' Snape's voice echoed as Luna suddenly turned her attention towards the stern professor with whom she has just collided.  
>Luna felt her heart rate increase. Snape had always scared her.<br>'Sorry professor, sir' Luna mumbled 'I'm afraid it's a rather common problem I have'  
>'Not acceptable' Snape scorned. 'Pay attention next time' Snape walked in the opposite direction, ensuring any of Luna's attempts of a response would be futile. She was glad the punishment wasn't more severe, given that Snape never seemed fond of any students belonging to houses other than his own. She wondered how Dumbledore allowed such a corrupt bully to remain a teacher, however talented at potions this bully may be.<p>

Luna figured that it would be a while before dinner, and that the free time could be spent studying for her upcoming potions exam. She headed for the Ravenclaw common room and allowed herself an evening of studying. Luna always prided herself on her good grades, not as great as Hermione's, however much in line with the excellence expected of Ravenclaws. Her father was always proud and that was good enough for Luna. After a night of studying, Luna decided sleep would be most beneficial in preparation for her forthcoming exam.

'Hey, Luna' Neville greeted the next morning, happily 'have you studied much for the test today?' Luna could see that Neville had, and had felt confident in his abilities to perform in his test.  
>'Oh, hello, Neville' Luna responded 'I studied for four hours each night this week' Luna smoothed down an unruly strand of hair, she had always liked Neville, however teenage hormones seemed to be getting the better of her recently. With Ron seeing Lavender and Harry and Ginny looking at each other like edible dishes, Luna figured that Neville seemed as good a boy as any to be crushing over, even if a little geeky and awkward looking. Besides, he looked like the type to grow into his looks; Luna decided he might just surprise everyone.<p>

Neville seemed impressed 'four hours a night? That's impressive, even for a Ravenclaw'  
>'Thanks, Neville' Luna managed a small smile.<br>A voice leered above them 'Exam conditions. I expect complete silence.'

Snape sat quietly, observing their class during their potions exam.  
>'Why is brewed glory dangerous when stirred, rather than shaken' was a simple enough question. And the rest of the exam seemed to pass fairly quickly, with no difficulties. Luna lived by the motto that preparation was key and that failing to prepare was preparing to fail.<p>

Luna finished before her classmates and had discovered she had 15 minutes spare in which to wait until the papers to be handed in. She looked around the room, imagining the wrackspurts zooming around people's brains. They were particularly fond of exams. Making people's heads go fuzzy was a favourite of these small creatures, and they were smart enough to know that people required their brains more during exams. Luna soon awoke from her daydreaming to realise that only five minutes of the test allowance was remaining. A small piece of her own white hair fell across Luna's face, making her look up, spotting the despondent expression upon the raven haired professor's face.

Luna had never really looked too closely at her least favourite professor before; after all, he was no great beauty. She could see his eyes looked much older than the rest of his body, almost as if he had carried a heavy burden no one was allowed to see. Loneliness, Luna decided was the cause; however she felt that Snape, however heartless he was perceived, had ailments of the hearts he sheltered from others.

Snape stood up from his pristinely tidy desk to announce that the time was over and anyone observed writing would be instantly failed. Snape used his wand to collect the papers from each desk and to arrange them alphabetically. 'You may leave' Snape announced.  
>The class would have to wait another day in order to learn the results of their test.<p>

The following day in potions, Snape seemed particularly hostile. 'Poor effort' Snape summed up, waving his wand and allowing the test papers to fall into the laps of the student with the corresponding name. Luna received her paper, a score of 80% clearly marked across the left hand corner. She was sure these answers were all correct. 'Professor' Luna spoke aloud, waving her hand 'Professor, the answers I have written have been marked as incorrect, but I know they are right' she glanced back at her answers, assured that the questions were answered correctly.  
>'Luna' Snape growled. 'Whilst your answers were all technically correct, you did not write enough detail in order to attain full marks. My final grade of 80% was generous, given your lack of detail, poor spelling, and frankly, sloppy handwriting.' The class was silenced.<p>

At the end of the class, Luna felt this grading largely unjustified but had learned that many others had received much worse, with Griffindors fairing the worst. Harry was given just 60% even though Luna knew he's studied hard.  
>'Luna' Hermione called. 'It was brave of you to stand up to Snape like that'<br>'Oh, it wasn't much, really. I just found the grading seemed rather unfair is all.' Hermione herself had received 72.5%, much below her average.

'well, we'll have to hope for better next time' Luna brushed off 'we could always ask Dumbledore for an alternative marker to check.'

'I'm sure Snape would be so pleased to hear about that' Hermione giggled. Luna smiled in response

'Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Hermione' Luna proceeded to smile at Hermione and promptly began to skip towards the doorway of the potions lab, blonde hair waving behind her.


End file.
